Ambassadors

Your Role:

Leverage your past experience to lead a team of Crew members throughout a week of high-energy service projects. Provide guidance and mentorship to the crew and serve as a representative for The Mission Continues. Apply by March 25, 2019.

Eligibility:

Previous Crew member, have not previously served as an Ambassador.

Resides within 1 hour drive of ANY city where we have active operations. Click here for the full list.

We cover your costs:

We will book and cover your flights to and from Baltimore, and provide transportation between the airport and your lodging.

Meals are provided, with the exception of special on-your-own nights where you can eat out and explore Baltimore with your fellow veterans. During projects we provide water and snacks.

Lodging is provided for all Crew and Ambassadors.

All tools, equipment, and supplies will be provided. Be sure to bring your own personal items like work boots, bandanas, hats, etc.

On June 20-27 2019, we’re deploying 80 veteran leaders to Baltimore for our fourth Mass Deployment, Operation Charm City Charge (OC3). This program covers all expenses for those selected as Crew or Ambassador. Together with our community partners, we select areas of need as project sites for our veteran-led operation. Veterans are a powerful force when called upon to serve. Since leaving the military, tens of thousands have continued to serve in their local communities. They bring hard-earned leadership, exemplary training and a mission-focused work ethic that is in short supply today. They do not do “quit.”

For veterans, it’s a week of personal growth and community impact. They forge new connections that become life-long bonds of friendship and support. They undergo cultural competency courses, technical skill training and team building exercises. And June is just the beginning of their impact. These leaders will deploy back home and get to work in their communities. OC3 is a heightened continuation of our ongoing commitment to Baltimore—and the hundreds of local veterans of The Mission Continues—who will be at the heart of sustaining our progress.

The Experience

The Mass Deployment experience is more than just a week of high-impact volunteerism in one city. It’s an investment in yourself as a community leader. Here’s what to expect leading up to, during and after a Mass Deployment with The Mission Continues!

Preparing for Mass Deployment

Engage in cultural competency and skill building trainings

Learn about the community you’ll be serving in and the people you’ll be serving with

Support the deployment through fundraising opportunities and social networks

Mass Deployment in Action

Five consecutive days of service driving community impact from dawn ‘til dusk

Onsite workshops and team building exercises with reflection sessions

Group meals, dormitory living and forming new bonds with like-minded veteran leaders

Post Mass Deployment

Continue to lead in your community equipped with new tools and leadership skills

Baltimore is a city with a diversity of voices. It was once at the forefront of the Civil Rights movement and home to luminaries such as Thurgood Marshall and W.E.B. Du Bois. Despite being the largest city in Maryland, Baltimore is now facing population decline due to high crime, an aging infrastructure and struggling local economy. Comprised of over 50 neighborhoods, each known for their distinct character, many of these areas have been affected by segregation, mortgage discrimination, poverty, and unemployment. The country took notice of the issues facing Baltimore following the 2015 death of Freddie Gray and subsequent protests, propelling it into the national spotlight.

Steeped in a rich history of community activism, arts and culture, Baltimore has both thrived and endured. While recent civil unrest highlighted inequality throughout the city, it also proved to be a positive catalyst for community mobilization. Fueled by the past and looking towards the future, engaged citizens, community leaders, and politicians are currently making strides towards building a stronger, healthier Baltimore. And now, veterans are responding in force to help drive these efforts. By reporting for duty alongside The Mission Continues, residents can take part in creating solutions to address Baltimore’s challenges and ensure positive progress continues.

What is A Mass Deployment?

A Mass Deployment mobilizes veterans from across the country alongside local partners and volunteers in a single city over the course of a week-long project. We select cities with a need for revitalization and the potential for sustainable growth, ensuring our efforts and resources have a visible impact within the communities we serve. Our purpose: To seed future operations, veteran leaders and motivate more volunteers to embrace new roles of service in their community.

About Our Crew and Ambassadors

Approximately eighty veterans from across the country will mobilize in June for Operation Charm City Charge. Each participant will be selected after an application process that reviews applications from hundreds of veterans – each one ready and willing to commit a week to volunteer service typified by long days of physical and mental activity. But with the stress and sweat comes team-building and opportunities to gain new skills and grow as individuals.

Selected veterans will serve in one of two roles: Crew Member or Ambassador. Our largest force of volunteers will be comprised of the Crew. These are veterans attending a Mass Deployment for the first time, and will operate in teams that will tackle projects as distinct units. Leading each of these teams will be our Ambassadors, who have attended a Mass Deployment as part of the Crew in a previous year. Each role carries different responsibilities, but all are united by a common goal: to build a stronger community.

The Mission Continues will arrange and cover costs related to Mass Deployment travel and accommodations for the Crew Members and Ambassadors selected to participate.

Support our next Mass Deployment

Take your giving to the next level as an official sponsor of a Mass Deployment. For more information, contact Kat Cheshire, Manager, Corporate Partnerships at kcheshire@missioncontinues.org

MASS DEPLOYMENT 2018

OPERATION WATTS IS WORTH IT

LOS ANGELES, CA | JUNE 21 – 28, 2018

We united and empowered veterans to make a positive difference in a community in need through their leadership, skills and determination. Mass Deployment is a unique opportunity for veterans to experience individual growth and connection with fellow volunteers, while being of service to others.

For our third annual Mass Deployment (Operation Watts Is Worth It), we selected 80 veterans from across the country to help lead this mission. Throughout this week of high-octane volunteerism, veteran leaders gave their all as they took on tough community challenges in the Watts area. It’s not for the faint of heart — but the experience they shared and the impact they made was invaluable.

OPERATION WESTSIDE SURGE

ATLANTA, GA | JUNE 8 – 15, 2017

In June of 2017, The Mission Continues deployed more than 70 veteran volunteers to Atlanta’s Westside for a week-long service mission to tackle some of the community’s toughest challenges. The Westside district includes the neighborhoods of Vine City, English Avenue and Castleberry Hill. Using their skills, leadership and experience, our volunteers worked alongside families and community partners to deliver a week of impact across the Westside.

OPERATION MOTOWN MUSTER

DETROIT, MI | JUNE 23 – 30, 2016

Operation Motown Muster took place from June 23 – 30, 2016 in Detroit, Michigan. Over the course of the week, a team of 72 veterans served alongside local volunteers at four locations across the city: Central High School, Priest Elementary School, the Osborn Neighborhood and Recovery Park. This team concentrated their efforts to help revitalize neighborhoods, parks and schools. Each day, the team deployed and executed a variety of high-impact missions including construction, landscaping, painting, and public arts projects.

Operation Motown Muster’s week of service is complete, but our long-term investment into the city of Detroit has only just begun. The veterans of the local service platoon are already hard at work, maintaining the projects created during the mass deployment, fostering relationships with our local community partners and setting the stage for future projects.